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SUPER WHY! is a free app from PBS Kids. Well, it's free right now. At some point in the future it will cost $2.99.
So why am I recommending SUPER WHY!? It's a children's reading app, that's why!
The description bullet points:
-Play four original games that help build literacy skills
-Practice the alphabet, rhyming, spelling, writing, and reading
-Interact with main characters from the TV series SUPER WHY!
-Learn from your mistakes in a fun way
-Please note that this application requires an additional 17MB download
There aren't many reviews yet, but so far reviews are good. It looks like a fun set of games and it's hard to go wrong with free.


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We all sweat. Which is just as well because, generally speaking, the loss of body fluids is essential to our well-being. It rids us of a certain number of physiological impurities. Our skin - the material through which we sweat - is an organ per se, the largest one we carry around and a particularly complex one. It is a spaghetti junction of blood vessels, a harbour for nerve endings, a workshop for pigmentation and a field of sweat glands, oil glands and hair follicles. And that is not all. Our skin has also been called our 'third kidney'. Indeed, waste seeps through it daily: sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, calcium, urea, ammonia, uric acid - which is what tastes salty on the skin once all the water has evaporated - but also toxic metals such as copper, lead, zinc and mercury offered to us by way of environmental pollution. Amongst all this body garbage, however, is a protein known as dermcidin, which is not debris but an antibiotic peptide. Here is medicine we actually perspire.
What is the point of perspiring antibiotic peptides? We already know of antimicrobial proteins which appear following injury. Dermcidins however do not wait for such a prompt and are probably there to fight off bacteria which use our skin as feeding and mating ground. This is reminiscent of the magainin antimicrobial peptides found on frog skin for example . When we sweat, it is because our body temperature needs to be regulated. Bacteria love conditions that are the result of an overheated body: warmth and moistness. And they will thrive. Hence, it is a cunning move to provide a few antibiotic peptides in our sweat to check bacterial growth because in the event of a wound, infection is weakened.
Dermcidin is made in our sweat glands of which hordes cover our entire body save the lips, nipples and external genital organs. There are two types of modified sweat glands: the milk-producing mammary glands and the ceruminous glands in our outer ear. The latter produce earwax instead of sweat. Moreover, sweat glands on the palms of our hands and our feet are probably the remnants of our ancestors who needed moist palms and soles for better adhesion...to hunt, fight and run away! On an average, a human being boasts 2.6 million sweat glands, which are lodged in the dermis. They are hollow cellular tubes whose far ends are coiled. This is where sweat is produced to make its way through a straight duct which opens onto the skin's surface. Dermcidin itself is made in the mucous cells of the coiled part of the glands where it is secreted into the sweat. It starts as a 110 amino-acid precursor but is cleaved - probably by proteases that also swim around in our sweat.
'Sweat', Anne Karin Glass
Courtesy of the artist
Not much is known about the mode of action of dermcidin. Frog magainins punch a hole through the bacterial membrane, which unbalances the ratio of molecules between the outside and the inside of the bacteria, and consequently bringing on death. Dermcidin, however, probably works differently. It is unusual in that it has a slight negative charge, whereas most antibiotics are positively charged and can thus take a good grip of the bacterial membrane. Dermcidin's negative charge suggests that it kills bacteria in a completely different manner.
Sweating is a particularly healthy activity for a number of reasons - renewal of the immune system, discharge of toxins and heat regulation. Though in ancient times the biochemistry of sweat was unknown, its beneficial effects had been recognised. The Ayurveda - a medical document written in Sanskrit in 568 BC - stresses the importance of sweat and a number of ways of inducing it. Sweat baths as well as sweat-inducing herbs and spices are part of many cultures. Today we know that a body which cannot perspire - because the passage of sweat is impeded one way or another - accumulates poisons and dies within a few hours.
Scientists see in dermcidin a candidate for a generation of new antibiotics. It is remarkably effective against three bacteria: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus. But would it be effective against particularly resistant microorganisms that are resistant to traditional antibiotics? Time will tell. In the meantime, horses will sweat, men will perspire and women will get a little hot.

subset: commoncrawl


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Alpha Tile installation New Orleans
Tile Installation New Orleans
If you're looking for a reliable and experienced tile contractor in New Orleans, look no further than Alpha Tile
New Orleans ( OR-l(ee)ənz, or-LEENZ, locally OR-lənz; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] (listen)) is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 according to the 2020 U.S. census, it is the most populous city in Louisiana and the twelfth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States. Serving as a major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States. New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinctive music, Creole cuisine, unique dialects, and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The historic heart of the city is the French Quarter, known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street.
Algiers, Algiers Point, Aurora Gardens, Bayou Saint-Jean, Broadmoor, Bywater, Central City, Desire Area, Dillard, East Carrollton, East Riverside, Faubourg Delachaise, Faubourg Delassize, Faubourg Livaudais, Faubourg Marigny


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Gonzo's Quest
Play on Gonzo's Quest and find your own City of Gold with the amazing Avalanche cascade system featuring big reel multipliers.
Gonzo's Quest
Team up with legendary slot scoundrel Gonzo, as he goes in search of untold wealth and fabulous bounty. Featuring interactive graphics, top notch sound effects and a game mechanic that crumbles stony reels with its Avalanche system. Once you've played this game you'll be hard pushed to find one better.
- Five reel playing system with twenty fixed winning lines per spin
- Return to player rated at 96.00%
- 41.1% hit frequency for reel wins
- Avalanche system provides you with standard reel cascades
- Consecutive cascades are subject to increasing multipliers up to 5x
- 3 bonus symbols on a pay-line takes you to the bonus round
- Wild symbols can substitute for bonus symbols
- Earn up to ten free spins in the feature
- All multipliers trebled for the duration of your free spins
- Brilliant fully animated interface
- Re-trigger bonus during your free spins for ten extra spins
- Top jackpot of 87,500 coins
How to Play
- Gonzo's Quest has 20 fixed pay-lines. Select your coin size using the COIN VALUE button, and choose the number of coins per line with the BET LEVEL button up to a maximum of 10.
- The MAX BET button will start a game at the highest BET LEVEL for your current COIN VALUE.
- Hit the spin button to commence your game. During play any winning combination you achieve on the game grid will pay-out the appropriate prize and disappear, leaving spaces on the grid into which the symbols above will drop. This is known as an Avalanche.
- This mechanism increases a pay-out multiplier and gives you the opportunity to earn additional wins from the same game.
- Auto-play is available on Gonzo's Quest.
Bonus Rounds and Freespins
- When you hit 3 bonus scatters on any active pay-line, this will activate the free spin feature. You'll see a rolling stone animation and a pathway is opened up to El Dorado, where you'll find a set of bonus reels.
- Here you receive 10 free spins, with the Avalanche cascading mechanism still in full effect. All multipliers are trebled for the duration of this bonus.
- Stop in 3 more bonus symbols on an active pay-line to re-trigger the bonus and add 10 additional spins to your count.


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Special to the Daily World
Twelve years after issuing a landmark report that offered a framework for improving access to oral health, former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said that profound oral health problems still exist for large portions of the population and issued a renewed call for action to expand access to oral health care, particularly in light of the millions of children expected to gain dental benefits through the Affordable Care Act in 2014.
Speaking at a recent conference on unmet oral health needs, sponsored by the Morehouse School of Medicine and the Sullivan Alliance, Dr. Satcher addressed progress that has been made since his landmark report on the silent epidemic of tooth decay, but also detailed profound oral health problems that remain more than a decade later.
"We now have an opportunity (with the ACA) to improve access to dental health services," said Satcher. "But how do we put in place a health care system that meets the needs of all? Can we, in fact, increase the supply of oral health care providers by expanding the opportunity for people to serve? What the ACA said is that people should be able to practice to the full extent of their potential."
Oral health care in America continues to be a crisis. Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease among children, five times more prevalent than asthma. Close to 50 million people live in areas where they have difficulty reaching a dentist, and millions more can't get care due to cost.
Dr. Satcher also expressed concern about the ability of the current dental workforce to meet demands for dental care. As part of the provisions enacted under the Affordable Care Act, more than five million additional children will be entitled to dental health benefits. At issue is the fact that there are not enough providers to meet the need. Currently, just 20 percent of all practicing dentists accept Medicaid patients. In addition, the federal Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) estimates a current shortage of approximately 10,000 dentists.
"We now have an opportunity to dramatically increase coverage," Satcher said. "But adding dental benefits will not translate into access to care if we do not have providers in place to offer treatment."
According to Satcher, states must pursue all avenues to expand access to dental care, including exploring the creation of new dental providers, and building a cadre of ethnically-diverse, culturally-competent dental practitioners, as well as expanding the reach of the dental team with other health care professionals.
Satcher advocated the launching of workforce pilot programs to determine how best to expand access to dental care. "I think we need more dentists and I think we need more professionals who are not dentists but who can contribute to oral health care services," said Satcher. "The real key is whether or not systems are going to ensure that everyone is allowed to practice to the level of their potential."
More than a dozen states are exploring creating new midlevel dental providers, also known as dental therapists, to expand access to preventive and routine dental care. Dental therapists currently practice in Alaska and Minnesota. Connecticut and Oregon are planning pilot projects and numerous other states have put forward legislation to allow dental therapists. In Alaska, dental therapists have been able to provide care to 35,000 Alaska Natives who couldn't access it before.
"Access to oral health is not what it should be in this country," said Dr. Louis Sullivan, president of the Sullivan Alliance, and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Services. "With the Affordable Care Act, millions more will have access to oral health care. We, as health professionals, must lead the effort so that we are prepared to meet the need. We need now to develop strategies to provide those services."
Poor oral health can lead to serious health consequences later in life, including diabetes and heart problems. Oral health is critical to overall health. Satcher emphasized that oral health can dramatically affect how we speak, eat, or smile, and more health professionals should be trained in providing elements of oral health care. He also stressed that children, minorities and the poor are disproportionately affected by the oral health care crisis, including 37 percent of African American children and 41 percent of Hispanic children have untreated tooth decay, compared with 25 percent of white children, and more than a third of all poor youngsters ages 2 to 9 have untreated cavities, compared with 17 percent of children who are not poor.
Satcher, who was joined by Dr. Sullivan, spoke at a day-long forum titled: "Unmet Oral Health Needs, Underserved Populations, and New Workforce Models: An Urgent Dialogue." The meeting was held to underscore the oral health disparities that persist and to explore solutions to this problem.


text: >>You would think that, but the nice thing about pure MPI is that >>locality is perfect. So in most cases, a pure MPI code beats a hybrid >>code. That's good, because hybrid programming is more complicated than >>straight MPI or straight OpenMP. >> >> Not necessarily. Charm++ uses an abstraction that does not concern the programmer with the location/node of a given object. Hence it is not more complicated than straight MPI. Its AMPI(an adaptive MPI implementation) works the same way, and both are free. (http://charm.cs.uiuc.edu). There are some papers at the site on this topic. Also locality may be an issue for some, but as we all know, applications have different bottlenecks and issues. Locality may be usefull for small programs which fit in cache. However there are many real applications which have network bottlenecks, IO bottlenecks or other problems which make the CPU and/or memory locality not the bottleneck. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding your reference to locality though. cheers, Isaac


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Café Cellulose
About Café Cellulose
The café is situated in the entrance hall to Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium and is open Tuesday - Sunday from 11.30 am to 6 pm during the exhibition season, May–September. NB! Closed on Mondays.
Café Cellulose offers a relaxing and elegant environment in exciting architectural surroundings – the perfect place for a break from exploring art. You are also welcome to visit the café without a ticket to the galleries.
The café serves its own range of lunch menus, delicious cakes, all types of coffee – and is fully licenced. Please click here to see our menu.
Photo: Nina Ansten


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Rifle Skills: How to Shoot Fast
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › The...
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more ›
The sign of a first-rate intelligence, said F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the ability to hold two conflicting ideas in the mind and still function. So it is with fast rifle work. Riflery is a sport of deliberation and precision, but the demands of the real world very often make deliberation and precision impossible. Gunsite Academy sums it up to a T: "A good fast shot is better than a slow perfect shot because you won't get time for the perfect shot."
What follows is about shooting quickly after you have positively identified your target. It's not about blazing away at sounds or snap-shooting at what you think is an animal.
Develop Your Mental Clock
The first step in shooting fast has nothing to do with shooting. It involves learning how much time you have to shoot, and whether you have to shoot fast at all. Much of this can be acquired by watching critters and reading their body language. A whitetail aware of evil nearby does not act like a whitetail whose greatest worry is where he'll find a date that evening. An animal that's 400 yards away does not act at all like the animal right under your treestand.
On occasion, I've given the hunters with me heart failure because I waited and waited for a critter to move just a little bit to give me the exact shot I wanted. And I always got it because I knew that animals never stand still, and I knew that whatever I was about to drop the hammer on had no idea anything was amiss.
Eschew Perfection
Unlike shotgunners, who send out hundreds of pellets with every pull of the trigger and are happy if one or two of them get the job done, riflemen have it dinned into them that they have to be precise. It's not enough to get a bullet in the 10-ring; you want to get it in the X-ring. If you're shooting groups, you want to shave off every tenth of an inch you possibly can. And the way you do this is by being deliberate and getting everything perfect before you pop a cap.
This is exactly the opposite of how a good game shot operates. Animals have not evolved with 10-rings or X-rings. What they have are hearts and lungs, and a hit anywhere in either counts. Modern hunting bullets are so destructive that catching a distant corner of a lung will result in as certain a kill as a shot right through the middle of said organ.
Don't Forget to Aim**
On the other hand, you still have to aim. Many misses occur because hunters panic, get the crosshairs somewhere in what they think is the general vicinity of the beast, and yank the trigger. (The closer the critter, the more this seems to happen.) A little while back I listened to a Wyoming outfitter recounting in disbelief how a client, resting his rifle on shooting sticks, had managed to shoot an elk in the buttocks at 60 yards. "How do you hit an 800-pound animal in the ass at 60 yards?" he asked me, still indignant. (He tracked the poor creature for two days and eventually lost it.)
The answer is simple. When the moment comes, most hunters can only think: "OMG, this is the only chance I'm going to get!" Everything else, such as the fundamentals of riflery, goes right out of their heads.
Furthermore, too many hunters don't practice. For them, the mechanics of mounting the gun, acquiring the sight picture, and pulling the trigger are about as familiar as those of piloting a space capsule.
What to Do?**
I can't tell you how to acquire cold blood. Jerry Fisher, the great custom gunmaker, once told me that after you take about 300 head of big game you calm down. That sounds about right.
Short of that, the way to learn to shoot fast is roughly this: First, know your animal. There is no shortage of game-critter anatomical charts that you can study. Know where the lungs are. That's always the percentage shot.
Second, when it comes time to shoot for real, envision an aiming point on the beast and hold for that. And the nanosecond the crosshairs are even close to it–not precisely on it–shoot. Fast, good shots, remember?
To practice shooting fast, you need a .22 rifle and a whole bunch of NRA 50-Yard Slow Fire Pistol targets. These have an 8-inch bull that's just about the size of an animal's boiler room. Set your scope at its lowest power and, at 20 yards, fire a five-shot string, lowering the gun from your shoulder between shots. What you're trying to do is get that round off the instant the crosshairs are anywhere in the bull's-eye. If the bullet hits in the bull, it counts. If it doesn't, you missed.
It takes me about 1.7 seconds to mount the rifle, aim, and get the shot off. Since my skill with a gun is legendary, bordering on mythical, this is a good time for you to try to match. When you can get all five rounds in the black, every time, back up 5 yards. Eventually you will be shooting from 100 yards, and if you can put 20 out of 20 shots into the bull at that distance, shooting fast, I will buy you a cigar. Or you can buy me one for telling you this stuff.
From the October 2012 issue of Field & Stream magazine.


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Members of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), such as ginger (Zingiber officinale) and turmeric (Chucuma longa),have been common and important herbs in Chinese medicine for centuries. Ginger is a remedy used for stomach disorders and nausea. Turmeric formulas are employed for pain relief.
The ginger family is now undergoing tests under Western protocols for its anti-cancer properties. The British Journal of Cancer (1999, vol. 80) reports that researchers in Malaysia have found some ginger species capable of blocking the onset and growth of cancer tumors.
Out of 12 ginger species tested, extracts of seven showed strong anti-tumor properties. Turmeric extracts completely inhibited cancer cell growth. And while ginger also showed strong results, the strength of the ginger extract determined its effectiveness, unlike that of turmeric.
The researchers conclude that roots of some ginger family members may be useful in preventing cancer and that at-risk populations should be encouraged to include them in their diet. Further work is now under way to isolate and identify the inhibiting ingredient(s).


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Contact the Customer Service Department at 302.422.6616.
Show All Answers
Garbage collection begins at 7:00 am. If your garbage was missed and you had it out by 7:00 am, please submit the missed pickup on the MyMilford portal.
Yes, bulk collection is available for large household appliances and furniture. Please call the Customer Service Department to schedule a collection at 302.422.6616, there is a limited number of collections each week. Bulk collection is done weekly on Mondays. No bulk item pick-ups will be scheduled on the weeks the city observes a holiday.


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Surname List: Begins with PAll surnames beginning with P, sorted alphabetically (total individuals): Click on a surname to show matching records. Main surname page | Show all surnames
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This site powered by The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding v. 12.1, written by Darrin Lythgoe © 2001-2024. Maintained by Shawn Lawrence Gillis Gearin. CelticGenealogy.org - Preserving The Past For Future Generations A searchable family database of our Celtic Ancestors from Eastern Europe to the Canadian Maritimes All original works essays and photos may be subject to copyright. Ask permission about copyright 2019 |


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
We only take day trips. We go to places such as:
Show All Answers
To be a part of the nutrition program, you must be 60 years old and to participate in the activities you must be 55 years old.
Yes, we provide transportation to those who are in the nutrition program.
Some activities include:
For additional information, please view the Senior Center page.
You can call the senior center at 706-864-2358 and they will take your information for a referral or you can call Legacy Link at 770-538-2650 and ask for help getting Meals on Wheels.
A Care Coordinator will call you and schedule an appointment for a nurse to visit for an assessment for services.
If there is not a waiting list for meals, the time frame is usually within three weeks.
There are two options for meals. For those with many doctors' appointments, we deliver frozen meals on a designated day, once per week.
All others receive a hot meal, Monday through Friday.
There are special meals for diabetics and those receiving hot meals are served a therapeutic dessert.


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Nicely done and a good callback to something I have neglected recently.
Whenever this topic comes up, I encourage people to start with the FEMA Basic Disaster Supplies list:
"Prepping" is a term that defines the process of getting ready for a catastrophic event. While the word used to have a negative connotation, reserved for folks who take preparation to an extreme, many more everyday people today are using a common sense approach to mitigate damages from a variety of tragic events. (See also: How to Prepare Financially for a Natural Disaster)
The key to keeping your preparations realistic is to weigh the possibility of a particular event actually happening against the amount of work needed to prepare for it. Some events may almost certainly never arrive, while others could happen more than a few times during a person's life. Many are ridiculously expensive to thwart, while others require just a few dollars a week in extra supplies.
Given the likelihood of a disaster happening, and the possibility of being ready for it, let's look first at the five disasters you should prepare for.
Nebraska and much of the rest of the Midwest and Eastern U.S. recently experienced what scientists have called a "vortex" of cold weather. Temps reached below -50 degrees F due to wind-chill, and this caused a number of issues beyond your typical cold-weather inconveniences. (See also: Safest Cities in America From Natural Disasters)
Most Nebraskans, however, weren't caught unprepared for such an event; we are, after all, accustomed to very cold weather. The same can be said for tornadoes, which happen annually, blizzards, and drought. Each area of the country has its own pattern of weather-related extremes, but since their possibility is no surprise (only their timing and severity), you should be taking appropriate steps throughout the year to have an adequate supply of food, water, and essentials on hand for any disruptions weather may cause.
What do we consider "adequate"? While it may vary according to your location, size of family, and stage in life, this basic list from Ready.gov gives a good basic starting point. A bare minimum of what you would need for your basic comfort and biological needs for 72 hours is a great place to start. This will include:
Many pre-made kits will contain other "must-haves," but only you can assess if these items are truly necessary. Putting together your own kit ensures you have only those items that are appropriate for your particular needs. (See also: 6 Items to Add to Your Emergency Kit)
Most people take small steps to guard against the complications of having a power outage, and expect that they could happen during weather events. But what about those power outages that take everyone by surprise? Disruptions lasting a few minutes to a few days can happen for a variety of reasons, including freak accidents and scheduled repairs. Waiting until you're in the dark is too late to come to terms with the chance of a blackout. Stock what you need to go without power for 2–3 days, at a minimum. It likely will happen at least once every two years.
In addition to all the items needed in the basic preparation list above, you'll need alternative ways to heat food and charge electronics. Camp stoves can be handy for this purpose, and solar chargers for a cell phone or radio can be purchased for as little as $20 online. If you have access to a gasoline generator, operating one safely may be a blessing to your home and your neighbors! (See also: 20 Things to Have in a Power Outage)
Whether you lose your job, or you take a drastic cut in pay or hours, having less to live on is a reality for most everyone at least once in a career. Most established families have (or should have!) some kind of emergency fund to live on, typically three months income, but having extra essentials on hand may prove to be more useful. (Consider how affordable it may be to stock up on extra non-perishables when they are on sale versus trying to come up with an extra $100 in grocery money down the road during a layoff!) Take into consideration expenses that are slightly "irregular" when you save, as well. Having your annual property taxes due after losing a job can be devastating to an unprepared household. (See also: How to Create Your Emergency Fund)
Whether it's a ruptured appendix or a terminal case of cancer, illness can rock the worlds of both the patient and their loved ones. In addition to added medical bills, there can be loss of income, an increase in time spent traveling for treatments, or even a major move in school or home location. Being prepared for the worst through illness can be as simple as securing extra coverage on a life insurance plan or getting your advance directive in order before you fall ill. Take time to consider the possibilities of how illness can change things, then work methodically to address each obstacle one by one — before it happens. (See also: What to Do If You Get a Huge Medical Bill)
Our family has a tendency to breathe deeply once tornado season is over. The thought of having our home (and all the contents) completely destroyed is a terrifying one, and tornadoes make it a very real possibility. But what about the other ways someone could lose their house? Fires and floods are common, as well, and can happen at any time of year and in any location in the U.S. or around the world. If you don't already have adequate insurance coverage on your abode and possessions, the time to do that is now. (But be aware; flood coverage is not automatic on home policies. Check your policy language and ensure that you have a separate plan in place.) You'll also want to take inventory of all of your belongings so that they can be replaced when it comes time for that claim.
So what about those situations that aren't useful to prepare for? While there is no harm is doing some of the legwork for the following disasters (especially those steps that are identical to preparing for other disasters), spending a disproportionate amount of time and money preparing for these events may not be worth the trouble.
While the possibility of these five are very real (for some of us, anyway), preparing for each one, specifically, can be costly and may not do much to help you escape the outcome. By starting small, you can be in compliance with my favorite prepping rule: prepare for what makes sense. As times change, the threats will also, but the necessities needed to survive likely will not.
(For more information on following common sense prepping rules, I highly recommend "The Disaster Preparedness Handbook: A Guide for Families" by Dr. Arthur T. Bradley.)
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Nicely done and a good callback to something I have neglected recently.
Whenever this topic comes up, I encourage people to start with the FEMA Basic Disaster Supplies list:
These 3 can happen one day, the Obama admin. has no idea how vulnerable we are to these 3 conditions!
Nuclear fallout
Electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
Collapse of the economy
To rule out another economic failure with nearly $17 Trillion of debt outstanding is the worst miscalculation of these 3 IMHO!!!
I agree. How can you NOT prep for EMP or Economic Collapse? These are the two largest events that should definitely be prepared for. An economic collapse would result in serious social unrest/riots and an EMP, well, many people who are not prepared will die or fall victim of martial law. Simple as that.
It never hurts to be prepared ... by prepping for common disruptions like the ones you've mentioned, the catastrophic events become easier to manage by default!


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There's quite a difference between a family-owned funeral home that has been an institution in the community for decades and a corporate funeral business whose central operations are removed from the community. Our family-run funeral homes have always been family owned and community focused. The families we serve aren't just clients, they're our neighbors and friends.
The families that we serve, and have been serving for decades, have noted the difference. They see it when they attend funerals at other area funeral homes and have spoken with their friends about that experience. The caring directors, the attention to detail, the attentive staff, and more, all go hand-in-hand with being a family-run firm. We are proud to be a family-run funeral home and we hope that you'll also see the difference, too.


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NEW YORK (AP) Alex Rodriguez's lawsuit claiming Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig went on a "witch hunt" to force him from the sport has been moved from state to federal court.
Major League Baseball filed a notice of removal Monday, saying claims by the New York Yankees third baseman are governed by federal law.
The lawsuit, originally filed Thursday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, was assigned to U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, who joined the bench in December, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin N. Fox.
Rodriguez's legal team could file a motion asking that the case be returned to state court. One of his lawyers, Joseph Tacopina, said in a statement that the league "knows that these state law claims properly belong where they were filed, in the New York state court."
The legal action comes during a grievance by the Major League Baseball Players Association to overturn a 211-game suspension given to Rodriguez by MLB on Aug. 5 for alleged violations of baseball's drug agreement and labor contract.
A hearing began last week before arbitrator Fredric Horowitz. After a week of sessions, three additional days are scheduled starting Oct. 15, and more days may be needed. A decision is unlikely before winter.
In his lawsuit, Rodriguez claimed MLB and Selig tried to smear the three-time AL MVP and cost him tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to cover up Selig's alleged past inaction on performance-enhancing drugs. The lawsuit claimed Selig hoped to redeem himself by going after Rodriguez.
MLB responded by calling Rodriguez's actions "desperate" and a violation of the confidentiality provisions of the league and union's Joint Drug Agreement.
On Friday, Rodriguez sued the Yankees team physician and a New York hospital in New York Supreme Court in the Bronx, claiming they mishandled his medical care during the 2012 American League playoffs by letting him play after failing to inform him that a test revealed an injury to his left hip joint.
The lawsuit said Rodriguez then further injured himself, forcing him to suffer hospitalization, disability and emotional distress.
During the 2012 postseason, Rodriguez hit .120 (3 for 25) with no RBIs before undergoing left hip surgery in January that prevented him from rejoining the Yankees until August.
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.


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In Memoriam: Rick Woudenberg
While the Buddha was alive his words were recorded by monks and nuns who recited or chanted them and in this way, stored them in their memories. In time, and especially after the Buddha's Parinibbāna, these chants became not only times to check the teaching, but also occasions to express one's devotion and confidence in the Buddha and an inspiration for one's own practice and aspirations.
Over the centuries, additional verses have been composed by those teaching and transmitting the Dhamma as an aid to understanding the essence of the Dhamma. These verses are also regularly chanted by devoted Buddhists and practitioners.
When done with the right attitude, chanting is beneficial to one's practice. It reminds one of the Dhamma, and one is less likely to forget it. When meditation is not possible due to inner or outer disturbances, chanting can produce calm and peace within, as well as arouse energy and inspiration. One's confidence increases, and as a result, one feels lighter in body and mind.
The main body of the chants on this CD are mettā chants. They are preceeded by the verses of paying homage, going for refuge, and contemplating the attributes of the Triple Gem. The various mettā chants are followed by verses of dedication and sharing of merit and a blessing.
Mettā means loving kindness, friendliness, or goodwill. Mettā meditation aims to cultivate these qualities in one's heart and mind. Through the repeated development of these wholesome qualities, one becomes more compassionate and loving, thus reducing unwholesome qualities such as anger, ill will, or hatred.
Dedication and Aspiration
This CD is dedicated to the well-being and happiness of my parents, my teacher Chanmyay Sayadaw, my other spiritual teachers, my spiritual friends, and all living beings.
May the sounds of these chants echo throughout the entire world, so that they are heard in every corner of the three worlds. May everyone's heart be filled with strong and genuine mettā, and in this way, contribute to harmony, kindness, and peace among living beings.


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This is not an offer for credit and should be used for estimation purposes only based on the information you provided. You should not base your decision on this estimate alone. Title, registration, tax and other fees, and personal circumstances such as employment status and personal credit history, were not considered in the calculations.
Superbikes have always been special machines, offering levels of power, handling, and refinement no other streetbikes can match. The new 25th anniversary CBR1000RR is a Superbike where the rider comes first. Where you get a degree of connection unlike anything in the class. Available in three distinct model options this year, it's designed to dominate in the most important category of all: rider satisfaction.
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City of Creve Coeur ADA Title II Program
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), enacted on July 26, 1990, provides comprehensive rights and protections to individuals with disabilities in the areas of employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, and telecommunications. The ADA Title II prohibits all state and local governments from discriminating on the basis of disability but, moreover, its goal is to promote equality of opportunity and full participation. The City of Creve Coeur works to ensure that every program, service, benefit, activity and facility operated or funded by the City of Creve Coeur is accessible to, and useable by, people with disabilities. The city strives to eliminate barriers that may prevent persons with disabilities from access to or participation in city programs, services, activities, and facilities.
The Assistant City Administrator is the ADA Title II Coordinator for the City of Creve Coeur and coordinates the City's efforts to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. The ADA Title II Coordinator is available to answer questions from both the public and city employees about accommodating persons with disabilities and Title II of the ADA.
ADA Title II Grievance Procedure
The City of Creve Coeur is committed to providing and ensuring programmatic, communication and architectural access.
Complaints that a city program, service, or activity is not accessible to persons with disabilities should also be directed to the ADA Coordinator within 30 business days after the complainant becomes aware of the alleged violation. Complaints can be made by filling out ADA Title II Non-Compliance Complaint Form online. Instructions for how and where to submit this form are provided at the bottom of the form. A fillable and printable complaint form is also available.
An appeal of the decision the initial ADA Title II complaint can be made by filling out the Appeal of Initial Decision of ADA Title II Complaint Form online. Instructions for how and where to submit this form are provided at the bottom of this form. A fillable and printable appeal form is also available.
Alternative means of filing a complaint or an appeal will be made available upon request by contacting the ADA Title II Coordinator.
All complaints and appeals will be maintained in the City's ADA complaint file for a minimum of five years.
Notice Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
In accordance with the requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the City of Creve Coeur ADA Notice states it will not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs, or activities.
Missouri Public Accommodation Notice
The Missouri Human Rights Act makes it illegal for places of public accommodation to discriminate because of an individual's race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex or disability. More information is available in the Missouri Commission on Human Rights Discrimination in Place of Public Accommodation is Prohibited flyer.
Fair Housing Act Accommodations
Requests for accommodations pursuant to the Federal Fair Housing Act and ADA may be submitted in writing to the office of the City Administrator. The process for requesting reasonable accommodations is provided in Section 230.090 of the City Code.
Accessibility of the Creve Coeur Website
Summary of key information about Creve Coeur's website accessibility design.
Sharon Stott
Assistant City AdministratorPhone: (314) 872-2516
Physical Address
300 N. New Ballas Rd.
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
Fax: (314) 872-2539
Monday - Friday
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LOS ANGELES – Brad Pitt "pretended" his marriage to Jennifer Aniston was "something that it wasn't".
The 'Moneyball' actor - who was married to former 'Friends' star Jennifer from 2000 to 2005 - thinks his life before his relationship with Angelina Jolie started to feel "pathetic" because he spent a lot of time smoking marijuana and "hiding".
He said: "I spent the '90s trying to hide out, trying to duck the full celebrity cacophony. I started to get sick of myself sitting on a couch, holding a joint, hiding out. It started feeling pathetic. It became very clear to me that I was intent on trying to find a movie about an interesting life, but I wasn't living an interesting life myself.
"I think that my marriage [to Jennifer Aniston] had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn't."
However, the 47-year-old actor, now lives a much happier life with Angelina and their six children - Maddox, 10, Pax, seven, Zahara, six, Shiloh, five, and three-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.
He said: "One of the greatest, smartest things I ever did was give my kids Angie as their mom. She is such a great mom. Oh man, I'm so happy to have her."
Brad also reveals he has found being a parent easy because he always trusts his instincts.
He added to Parade magazine: "I was surprised at how automatic it is, how much of it is instinctual. And now I have a great confidence and trust in those instincts. I mean, one sound at night and you're awake and up because they may need you. Or when they start to have a tantrum, you know to divert them from spinning out by helping them focus on something. It just goes on and on. I tell them, "You can make a mess, but you've got to clean it up.' "
- Comment


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The fantastically funny 30 Rock hit its stride in its second season on NBC, just in time for the Writer's Strike to trip its power walk (the shortened season clocks in at fifteen episodes). Despite the stress of the strike, creator/head writer/star Tina Fey and her sterling team of writers and actors crafted new highs for the series, particularly the one-two punch of "Rosemary's Baby" (Carrie Fisher's Emmy-nominated guest turn; Alec Baldwin's tour-de-force performance in a therapy session) and the political satire of season finale "Cooter" (with guest star Matthew Broderick as one of the lowest men on the Bush Administration totem pole).
Fey plays Liz Lemon, head writer for sketch show "TGS with Tracy Jordan," shot at New York's fabled 30 Rockefeller Center. Liz's corporate master is Jack Donaghy (Baldwin), NBC's Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. Liz plays a funhouse mirror Mary Richards to Baldwin's Republicanized Lou Grant: though the show ultimately is about Liz's quest to "have it all" (career, personal life, and Mexican cheese curls), the show has shown nearly equal interest in Jack's burning ambition to supplant retirement-age CEO Don Geiss (Rip Torn of The Larry Sanders Show). When 30 Rock won the 2008 Emmy for Best Comedy Series, Fey deservedly picked up additional Emmys for writing and Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, while Baldwin rightly scored as Best Actor in a Comedy Series.
No sitcom would be complete without a wacky cast of supporting players. Tracy Morgan (an old SNL pal of Fey's) rules the roost as Tracy Jordan, the deliriously out-of-it diva of "TGS." Tracy poses a constant threat to co-diva Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski, all but reprising her role from Ally McBeal), the show's singing, dancing triple threat. Jack McBrayer (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) plays Kenneth, the NBC page whose naive Midwestern values provide a broad contrast to the urban backbiting all around him. Then there are the staffers of "TGS": Jack's lovingly obsequious personal assistant Jonathan (Maulik Pancholy); producer Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit); the writers, led by bickering Frank (Judah Friedlander) and Toofer (Kaith Powell); and Tracy's surprisingly wise entourage, Dot Com (Kevin Brown) and Grizz (Grizz Chapman).
Partly in its quest for ratings commensurate with its quality, 30 Rock has rolled out a massive number of guest stars, but Fey and her team have used them so well that the series has effectively avoided the criticisms Will and Grace often fended off for "stunt casting." Beyond Fisher and Broderick, Season Two includes brilliant guest turns by Tim Conway (another 2008 Emmy winner), Jerry Seinfeld (in season opener "Seinfeldvision"), Will Arnett (as Jack's desperately closeted rival), David Schwimmer, Al Gore, Edie Falco (as Jack's inconveniently Democratic love interest), Elaine Stritch, Buck Henry, Andy Richter, Dean Winters (returning as Liz's boorish ex Dennis), Brian Dennehy, Steve Buscemi, and SNL vets Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis.
In tone, 30 Rock most closely resembles sentiment-allergic Seinfeld, played at the pace and high-fantasy quotient of Scrubs. The show's second season has many comic highlights, but nothing beats the scene in "Rosemary's Baby" that won Baldwin his Emmy. With Tracy running amok, Jack sits in on a therapy session, and agrees to participate in a role-play of Tracy's family. The session quickly gets out of control, with Donaghy playing Tracy (as J.J. Walker), his dad (as Fred Sanford), his mom, his stepfather, and his Hispanic neighbor. The racial insensitivity is played effectively for big laughs. How insensitive? Let's just say Donaghy climatically pulls from his bag of stereotypes the phrase "bust up your chiffarobe." Genius.
30 Rock returns to NBC's Thursday night lineup on October 30, 2008. Along with its usual lead-in The Office, 30 Rock is half of the funniest hour of comedy anywhere on TV right now. On the strength of its second consecutive Emmy win for Best Comedy and Fey's increased prominence as SNL's Sarah Palin, perhaps more viewers will discover 30 Rock's madcap mayhem.
The trend in DVD is toward slimmer packaging, so Universal's decision to bundle 30 Rock: Season 2's two discs in an extra fat package stinks of sticker markup. Still, if this is what it takes to make the ratings-deprived series financially viable, I'm all for it. Disc one packs in ten episodes and disc two the other five, along with a strong selection of extras. The series gets a solid anamorphic widescreen transfer that suffers a bit from compression, and a more-than-ample Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.
A number of enlightening and entertaining commentaries are included: Will Arnett ("Jack Gets in the Game," Jane Krakowski & Jack McBrayer ("The Collection"), Fred Armisen ("Somebody to Love"), Judah Friedlander ("Cougars"), Tina Fey & producer/husband Jeff Richmond ("Episode 210"), Scott Adsit ("MILF Island"), Tim Conway & Jack McBrayer ("Subway Hero"), co-executive producers Robert Carlock & John Riggi ("Succession"), Fey again on "Sandwich Day," and Krakowski & McBrayer again on "Cooter."
Disc two includes five deleted scenes (4:01). Another very cool inclusion is the "'Cooter' Table Read" (31:30). Presented in two windows, one showing the actors and one showing the scrolling script, the half-hour includes some bits that never made it to air, including a potential cameo by Helen Mirren (Broderick isn't present for the table read, so his part is read in).
The coolest extra by far is "30 Rock Live at the UCB Theatre" (46:48), a heavily publicized charity event that took place during the writer's strike, to raise money for the show's out-of-work PAs. The cast (minus guest star Edie Falco) does an uproarious staged reading of "Secrets and Lies," with McBrayer and John Lutz performing improvised commercials. "Tina Hosts SNL" (8:06) is a glorified promo for SNL, with some behind-the-scenes glimpses of Fey's 2007 hosting gig.
Lastly, there's "The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Presents: An Evening with 30 Rock" (23:10), moderated by NBC News anchor Brian Williams (where's a TV critic when you need one?). Q&As by the TV Academy and the Museum of Radio & Television are always welcome extras, capturing whole casts interviewed for posterity during a show's run (notable exception: an absent, reportedly under-the-weather Tracy Morgan).
Review gear: |
Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer


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Konecranes can provide cranes tailored to each of your manufacturing lifting needs—from component handling to assembly to shipping—helping to make your operations safer, more efficient and more productive. We also invest greatly in research and development to create safety-enhancing and productivity-boosting features for our full line of cranes and other lifting equipment.
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Let's take a moment to remember mystery writer Donald Sobol who died last week in Miami. He was a man who wrote his mysteries short. In the 1950s, he succeeded with syndicated column, "Two-Minute Mysteries."
But Sobol is most remembered for his "Encyclopedia Brown" kids' books, books that Don Weisberg knew well as both a publisher and a reader. Weisberg is currently the president of the children' book division of Penguin Books.
MONTAGNE: He came to Sobol's books as a kid when he picked up the first one, "Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective," shortly after it came out in 1963.
DON WEISBERG: I then met Donald at a librarian convention in 1980, so not only did I read him, but then in my career I sold him. And now, coincidentally or whatever, I'm publishing him with great satisfaction. He was an incredible guy and an incredible writer.
INSKEEP: The hero of Sobol's books was Leroy Brown, called Encyclopedia because he was so darn smart; a 10-year-old who solved mysteries that even his father - the local police chief - could not.
MONTAGNE: Each story provided clues to help young readers sharpen their detective skills.
WEISBERG: They had the ability to really discover what solving a mystery was like - and it was great fun. I speak to that personally.
MONTAGNE: Donald Sobol wrote 28 "Encyclopedia Brown" books, including one that will come out next fall. The books have been translated into 12 languages and are all still in print. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Local fares are $3; one way (cash only). Transportation is provided to destinations in the following service areas:
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The Canton Community Mobility Transportation Services program was initiated in 1995 in order to provide transportation services to senior residents 55 years and above and disabled residents.
The Transportation Advisory Committee is made up of representatives who use the system as well as representatives from the Township Board of Trustees and professionals from Canton's senior community. There are currently 15 members on the committee.
Transportation is only provided to local destinations in the following service areas in Wayne County:
Canton residents who are eligible to use Canton Mobility Transportation, include:
Reservations for rides can be made by calling Nankin Transit Commission at 734/729-2710. For additional information please visit their website at www.nankintransit.com.


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FAIR Legislative Update December 10, 2012
Closed-Door Amnesty Negotiations Begin on Capitol Hill
A bipartisan working group to negotiate amnesty legislation has formed behind closed doors in both the Senate and House of Representatives, Capitol Hill news outlets began reporting last week. (Roll Call, Dec. 3, 2012; POLITICO, Dec. 7, 2012)
In the Senate, sources say the working group consists of Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Mike Lee (UT), John McCain (AZ), and Sen.-elect Jeff Flake of Arizona. The Democratic Senators include Sens. Chuck Schumer (NY), Dick Durbin (IL), Michael Bennet (CO), and Bob Menendez (NJ). (POLITICO, Dec. 7, 2012)
These Senators have long been vocal on the immigration issue. Sens. Graham and Schumer, for example, have teamed up over the years to introduce comprehensive immigration reform legislation. (Id.) Schumer has also teamed up with freshman Lee to propose legislation that would to allow foreign investors to buy their way into a green card. (Id.)
Senator-elect Flake also has a history of supporting amnesty legislation while in the House, crafting a bill with outspoken amnesty advocate Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL). Sens. Durbin and Menendez, have also long been champions of the DREAM Act, and Sen. McCain, despite his talk of enforcement during his 2010 reelection bid, has been on the amnesty bandwagon for years. (Id.)
Unlike the Senate working group, the exact composition of the working group in the House is unknown. (Roll Call, Dec. 3, 2012) Those with knowledge of the House negotiations are keeping the information close to their vests. "I can't discuss that," Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), the ranking member on the House immigration subcommittee told Roll Call when asked about the working group. (Id.) "It's not a secret that there have been confidential discussions, [but] if I discuss it, they will no longer be confidential." (Id.)
But despite these attempts to keep negotiations secret, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and ardent amnesty advocate, is anticipated to be one of the major negotiators for the Democrats. Moreover, Gutierrez has indicated that several Republicans, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Raul Labrador (R-ID) have reached out with him to discuss amnesty legislation. (POLITICO, Dec. 5, 2012; The Hill, Dec. 8, 2012) But Labrador, a rising Republican and immigration attorney, declined to discuss the working group when asked. "I've been doing this [immigration] behind the scenes for two years, and now obviously it's a golden opportunity to start being a little more public about it," he said. (Id.) Finally, incoming Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), who has long supported immigration enforcement, will likely influence any negotiations in the House, although House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) will ultimately have the final say on which bills, if any, advance to the floor.
California AG: Honoring ICE Detainers Optional
Last week, California Attorney General Kamala Harris issued an information bulletin stating that local agencies have no obligation to honor detainers issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Information Bulletin, Dec. 4, 2012; Associated Press, Dec. 4, 2012; Los Angeles Times, Dec. 5, 2012) In doing so, Attorney General Harris effectively gave legal cover to sanctuary cities that would rather protect criminal aliens from deportation than ensure the safety of their own communities.
ICE issues detainers when it becomes aware, usually through digital fingerprinting or interviews conducted by federal agents, that a local agency has custody of an alien it wants to remove. However, sanctuary cities are now arguing they have no obligation to honor these detainers due to a contradiction in federal regulations regarding detainers. More specifically, one paragraph of the relevant rule describes detainers as a "request" from the federal immigration authorities to local law enforcement agencies to hold an alien until ICE can take custody of the individual and begin removal proceedings. (8 C.F.R. 287.7(a)) However, another paragraph requires local law enforcement agencies to hold and alien for up to 48 hours upon ICE's issuance of a detainer. (8 C.F.R. 271(d))
In the past, this distinction was irrelevant as local law enforcement agencies routinely honored detainers whether they considered doing so a courtesy or obligation. But in the past two years, amnesty advocates have complained bitterly that ICE is deporting illegal aliens who are booked in jails for other crimes and have increased their pressure on local law enforcement agencies to ignore ICE detainers. If a law enforcement agency does not honor the detainer and transfer custody, it releases the alien onto the street. (See, e.g., FAIR Legislative Update, Sept. 24, 2012)
Unfortunately, as she released the bulletin, Attorney General Harris — California's top prosecutor — showed little concern for the enforcement of U.S. immigration law. She could, for example, have issued an opinion that detainers are optional but still encouraged local law enforcement agencies to honor them as a good law enforcement practice. Instead, however, she criticized Secure Communities, the fingerprinting program run by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and encouraged local agencies to make decisions using their own discretion. (Information Bulletin, Dec. 4, 2012; Los Angeles Times, Dec. 5, 2012)
Moreover, the timing of Harris's new law enforcement bulletin is not by accident. It comes barely two months after Governor Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that would bar local law enforcement agencies from honoring ICE detainers in most cases, and in serious or violent cases, would give locals discretion to ignore them. (See FAIR Legislative Update, Oct. 2, 2012) At her press conference Tuesday, Harris said she too had opposed that bill because it went "too far," but looked forward "to working with the governor and any of our lawmakers to take a look at what we can do to improve consistency." (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 5, 2012)
Amnesty advocates were gleeful. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles sheriff's spokesman called Harris' opinion welcome guidance that may offer sheriffs more flexibility in how they deal with immigration detainees. (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 4, 2012) "The sheriff applauds it and is grateful for it." Similarly, Reshma Shamasunder, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, said Harris's statement should eliminate any doubt sheriffs have about the legal force of detainers. "The only logical next step," she said, "is a strong, statewide standard that limits these burdensome requests." (Id.)
In contrast, ICE offered little in terms of a response to Harris' announcement. An ICE spokeswoman reiterated that the agency's top priorities are the deportation of criminals, recent border-crossers and repeat violators of immigration law, and said "[t]he federal government alone sets these priorities and places detainers on individuals arrested on criminal charges to ensure that dangerous criminal aliens and other priority individuals are not released from prisons and jails into our communities." (Id.)
STEM Bill Stalls in Senate
Last Wednesday, Senate Democrats blocked Republicans' attempt to vote on H.R. 6429, Rep. Lamar Smith's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) bill to eliminate the visa lottery and shift those green cards to foreign graduates of U.S. universities in advanced STEM programs. The bill would also create a new student visa program to allow an unlimited number of foreign students to attend U.S. universities and major in STEM fields. (CQ Roll Call, Dec. 5, 2012; see also FAIR Legislative Update, Nov. 26, 2012)
Ignoring the impact this increased competition would have on an already depressed labor market, incoming Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) requested the bill be considered via unanimous consent. "Our competitors abroad are observing this brain drain that America is experiencing and they are taking advantage of it. In a global economy they are more than happy to take the best and the brightest foreign students who come and train in the United States….," Cornyn remarked on the Senate floor. (See Congressional Record, Dec. 5, 2012)
Immigration Subcommittee Chair Chuck Schumer (D-NY), however, objected to the unanimous consent request, arguing that STEM green cards should not be created at the expense of the visa lottery. "[Republicans] could not pass a plain bill that just added STEM visas. They had to take away other visas that my colleague from Texas does not like, but many people do," Schumer stated. (Id.) Rather, Sen. Schumer sought unanimous consent for his own legislation, S. 3553, which adds STEM visas without eliminating the visa lottery. Likewise, Sen. Cornyn, objected to that request.
Democratic opposition to H.R. 6429 comes from the top down. Last week the White House issued a statement opposing the bill, stating that the Administration would not support piecemeal immigration legislation that does not include an amnesty. Immigration legislation must be "comprehensive" and include "important priorities such as establishing a pathway for undocumented individuals to earn their citizenship," the statement reads. (See Statement of Administration Policy, H.R. 6429, Nov. 28, 2012)
H.R. 6429 is not expected to see further action in the Senate. It passed the House 245-139, with 48 Members abstaining. (See Roll Call Vote #613; see also FAIR Legislative Update, Dec. 3, 2012)
Open Borders Republicans Call for Amnesty, Increased Immigration
This last week, at a series of seemingly coordinated appearances and conferences, a slew of open borders Republicans spoke out in support of amnesty for illegal aliens and increased immigration to the United States.
First, former President George W. Bush made a rare public appearance Tuesday to give a speech at the Dallas Federal Reserve's Immigration and Economic Growth Conference. (New York Times, Dec. 4, 2012) "Growing up here in Texas," the 43rd President told the crowd, he had the privilege of meeting the "newly-arrived." (See Fox News Insider Transcript, Dec. 4, 2012) He cautioned that as elected officials address the immigration issue, they should do so with the "benevolent spirit" and "contributions" of immigrants in mind. (Id.) Reflecting on his own immigration agenda as President, Bush told the audience that immigrants fill a gap in the labor market and can help build America's future. (Id.) The former President pushed for amnesty legislation in 2006 and 2007, but his efforts ultimately failed in Senate.
That same day, the National Immigration Forum (NIF) — one of the largest pro-amnesty organizations — kicked off a two-day "national strategy session" in Washington, D.C. to bring members of faith, law enforcement, and business communities together to fight for their mutual interests in getting an amnesty bill passed. (NIF Press Release, Dec. 4, 2012) Calling their movement, "Bibles, Badges and Business," the strategy session consisted of panels of leaders from the Midwest, South, and Mountain West regions to discuss their perceived importance of immigrants and immigration to their communities. (Id.)
Attendees of the NIF conference included outspoken amnesty advocates Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, and Sojourners CEO Jim Wallis. (See List of NIF Host Committee Members) Wallis and other Evangelical leaders recently called on Congress and President Obama to pass amnesty legislation within 92-days, symbolic of the number of times "immigrant" is mentioned in the Bible. (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 13, 2012)
In addition, failed GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who had opposed amnesty during the 2012 Republican primaries, also felt the need to chime in that day on immigration reform. "If it wasn't for immigration, our country would be declining in population. It's very hard to have economic growth and a forward-looking country that is declining in population," he told inside the Beltway publication POLITICO. (POLITICO, Dec. 5, 2012) "You can't be hostile on the issue of immigration, which I am not. You have to understand the values of immigrants who come to this country," he continued. (Id.)
The cries for comprehensive immigration reform from these open borders Republicans comes in the aftermath of Republicans' inability to win the White House or Senate in 2012. Amnesty advocates are seizing on this failure as an opportunity to push their agenda in a time of uncertainty within the GOP. They argue that an amnesty is necessary if Republicans are to win in future elections given that President Obama won 71 percent of the Latino vote in the last election. However, several opinion polls taken before the election show that jobs and the economy — not immigration — were the number one issues driving Latinos to polls this November, making passage of amnesty legislation a false solution to Republicans' problem of failing to attract Latino voters. (See FAIR 2012 Election Report)
Illinois Senate Approves Driver's Licenses for Illegal Aliens
Last week, the Illinois Senate approved a bill (SB 957) that would allow as many as 250,000 illegal aliens to receive an Illinois driver's license. (Chicago Tribune, Dec. 4, 2012); see also Chicago Tribune, Nov. 30, 2012). The bill breezed through committee by a vote of 12-2, it then passed the full Senate on December 4, 2012 by a vote of 41-14.
After passage in the Senate, SB 957 is now awaiting action in the House, where it has been assigned to the Transportation: Vehicles and Safety Committee. To obtain a so-called "temporary" driver's license under the bill, an alien need only have lived in Illinois for a year and may establish his or her identity using a consular ID or foreign passport. (See FAIR Legislative Update, Dec. 3, 2012).
Some of Illinois' most prominent political leaders are pushing for passage of the bill as a way to "make the state's road's safer." (NBC Chicago, Nov. 20, 2012). Those in favor of providing illegal aliens with driving privileges include Governor Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Senate President John Cullerton, House Republican Leader Tom Cross, and former governors Jim Edgar and James Thompson. (Huffington Post, Nov. 30, 2012).
Opponents argue granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens in no way guarantees safer roads or that they will purchase insurance. (International Business Times, Dec. 7, 2012). "There is no evidence to suggest that people who are already inclined to disobey laws they find inconvenient and who, in many cases have few assets to protect, are going to purchase insurance just because they have licenses," said FAIR President Dan Stein. (Id.; see also FAIR Press Release, Dec. 7, 2012). To back up his claim, Stein points to New Mexico who grants driver's licenses to illegal aliens and is home to the nation's second highest percentage of uninsured drivers. (Id.; see also Insurance Research Council, Apr. 21, 2011).
If SB 957 becomes law, Illinois would be one of three states that provide driver's licenses to illegal aliens — along with New Mexico and Washington State. California also recently passed a law to allow illegal aliens who are granted deferred action under the Obama Administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to obtain California driver's licenses. (FAIR Legislative Update, Sept. 4, 2012; California AB 2189).
The Illinois House final action deadline for SB 957 is January 8, 2013.
Maternity Mansions Highlight Issue of Birthright Citizenship
Residents of Chino Hills, California protested a "maternity mansion" located in their neighborhood last week, shining a spotlight on the growing trend of birth tourism. Housed inside this and similar mansions, also called "maternity hotels," are covert businesses which exist solely to recruit non-immigrants to the United States to give birth to children on U.S. soil so they can obtain U.S. citizenship.
The mansion in Chino Hills is one of many facilities that exist for this purpose — its owners even operate another similar facility in Anaheim, and dozens more can be found in local Chinese phone books. (CBS-Los Angeles, Dec. 1, 2012; see also LA Times, Dec. 4, 2012) For a hefty fee ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, women from China and Taiwan are provided with food, lodging, transportation, and prenatal services. (ABC News, Nov. 30, 2012; see also LA Times, Dec. 4, 2012)
Local Chino Hills authorities, however, have refused to address the maternity operation, focusing instead on code violations. (FOX News, Dec. 2, 2012) According to a Chino Hills spokeswoman, Denise Cattern, the house's "customer base…is not our concern. Our concern is that it's a hotel." (LA Times, Dec. 4, 2012) Chino Hills' city codes prohibit hotels from being operated in residential areas. (CBS-Los Angeles, Dec. 1, 2012) The city has also cited the owner of the house for constructing additional rooms without a permit and issued a "cease and desist" order following a sewage spill from the house's septic tank. (LA Times, Dec. 4, 2012)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has also refused to take a stance on the maternity operation. ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice would not confirm whether ICE was even investigating the Chino Hills house. However, based on previous statements made by Kice in September, ICE's only concerns about birth tourism appear to deal with "whether or not people are lawfully obtaining a visa and appropriately representing the purpose of their visit." (Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 24, 2012) According to Kice, no one in California has ever been prosecuted for visa fraud related to birth tourism. (Id.)
The Chino Hills operation's website makes clear the purpose of the business is to exploit the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th amendment. Its now-defunct website, www.asiamchild.com, provides information about the additional benefits of giving birth in the United States, such as access to free public education, social welfare programs, as well as the ability of the child to apply for the parents' citizenship upon turning eighteen years old. (ABC News, Dec. 2, 2012)
Birthright citizenship refers to the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment that any child born on U.S. territory (with the exception of children of foreign diplomats) is a U.S. citizen, regardless of the immigration status of the parents. (See FAIR Website on Birthright Citizenship, Sept. 2010)
President Obama's Illegal Alien Uncle Granted New Deportation Hearing
Onyango Obama, uncle to President Obama, won his appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) last week for a new deportation hearing. (Boston Globe, Dec. 4, 2012) Lawyers representing Obama successfully argued that counsel formerly representing him in his previous appeals case was "ineffective," and that Obama deserved a retrial based on the amount of time he has lived in the United States. (Boston Globe, Dec. 4, 2012) Obama has lived and worked in the United States illegally since 1992, when he was originally ordered to leave after overstaying his visa. (Boston Globe, Sept. 9, 2011)
BIA's decision to reconsider Obama's immigration case comes in spite of a 2011 arrest for driving erratically and operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol at nearly twice the legal limit. (Boston.com, Aug. 31, 2011) At Obama's court date earlier this year, Massachusetts Judge Douglas Stoddard put the case on hold, meaning if Obama goes without arrest through March of 2013, his charges will be cleared. (FAIR Legislative Update, Apr. 16, 2012)
Shortly after Judge Stoddard's ruling, ICE spokesman Brian Hale announced in April that Obama would still "be required to report to ICE in the coming weeks in order to effectuate his departure from the United States." (Boston Herald, Apr. 13, 2012; see also FAIR Legislative Update, Apr. 16, 2012) However, last week's decision by BIA will now permit Obama to "pursue his application for permanent resident status," according to Scott Bratton, one of Obama's attorneys. (Boston Globe, Dec. 4, 2012)
Inspector General: Illegal Aliens Working in Capitol
In a little publicized semi-annual report to Congress, the Inspector General for the Architect of the Capitol, the agency tasked with maintaining the building and grounds for the U.S. Congress and U.S. Supreme Court, found that several illegal aliens had been hired by subcontractors to complete projects on Capitol grounds this last year. (Roll Call, Dec. 4, 2012)
Under federal law, the Architect of the Capitol's contractors and subcontractors are required to use the E-Verify system to verify the employment eligibility of hires. (See USCIS Website; see also Federal Acquisition Regulation) However, a "second-tier" subcontractor failed to use the system, resulting in the hiring of five illegal aliens who used fraudulent documentation to obtain employment. (Inspector General Report at p. 7-8) Three of the illegal aliens received site badges, and the other two while working on site, were never badged as required by their contract. (Id.)
Surprisingly, the Inspector General determined that the subcontractor did not violate any criminal laws because of "his ignorance" of the requirement to use E-Verify and because the illegal aliens had passed an FBI background check. (Id. at p. 16) As such, the Inspector General did not refer the subcontractor to the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution, but rather, referred the allegations regarding the use of fraudulent documentation — green cards and SSNs — to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Social Security Administration. (Id.) Given that document fraud is not an enforcement "priority" under the Obama Administration, it is unlikely the illegal aliens will face any consequences for their actions.


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「彼女はとてもきれいだった、と少年は言った」 (Kanojo wa Totemo Kireidatta, to Shounen wa Itta)
"He Said She Was Very Beautiful"
With this second episode, if there's one thing to note, it's how similar many aspects were to the first. It didn't quite possess the impact the premiere did, but there's plenty of things to like with this series as a whole so far. For one, Bones continues to show why they're such a good animation studio, giving us some flawless action scenes that really give corresponding scenes in the source material justice. Gotta love all those flash jumps and Kusaribe Natsumura's (Suwabe Junichi) spear action (no pun intended). And not only that, Bones tops it off with some rather notable decisions in regards to how it's choosing to adapt the source material, as they're doing very well in adapting it, or at least ensuring that the major points of the source are maintained even when there's something moved around or added in.
But that's enough about Bones and the source material. Goin' into the what we get in the episode itself, we get a little bit of a review and some additional supplements to the basic premise we received last episode, as well as some continued plot advancement as well. Mahiro and Yoshino return to the scene of Aika's death in an attempt to find the killer using some of Hakaze's reserve magic talisman, and it's revealed that the killer seems to be a Kusaribe clan member. We don't quite get much else at the moment, but it's notable how everything just so happens to link together at this point (with Yoshino's relationship to Aika giving him another link to Mahiro and his quest to find the killer being notable too). Combined with the Hamlet quote from last episode, which basically talked about the main character just so happened to be there, so he has a responsibility to rid the world of evil… and the show in general seems to be constructing some sort of subtle commentary on destiny and fate.
Notably, if there is one thing that's for sure, is that I'm starting to find the contrast and similarity between both Yoshino and Mahiro particularly interesting. For one, they're quite different in their personalities. Mahiro's more quick to react and would do anything to achieve his goal, while Yoshino's more reserved and more willing to accept things in general. At the same time though, they're notably similar because while the ultimate goal of Mahiro's quest is to find and kill Aika's killer, both Mahiro and Yoshino outwardly say they're not doing it for Aika and that the dead don't feel anything/can't do anything for the dead. And it's just interesting how they're both so contrasting in basic personality, yet share that one big thing… even though it seems like they're both just saying the comments about the dead partially for show. Furthermore, it's interesting how we can pretty much see how big of an effect Aika's death has had on them, and how much their lives have changed so far as a result of it. Time is out of joint indeed.
Finally, if there's one other thing I wanted to mention, it's the continued ability of Zetsuen to mix in some comedy with the seriousness. The whole joke with Natsumura and Mahiro about learnin' magic in a barrel… the thing about Mahiro not being trustworthy and Hakaze having some issues for trusting him anyway… the whole thing where Yoshino recovers his wallet without lifting a finger, then gets dissed by Fraulein for being a "corpse-robber"… just some nice moments that made me chuckle despite the fairly serious and straight forward nature of the series.
Overall, just a solid episode altogether, albeit this episode served more of a bridge and a source for the solidification of the plot more than anything. Looking forward, Zetsuen should be something worth watchin', that's for sure.
Author's Note: Thanks to BakaMochi for providing the caps! 😀 In regards to coverage of Zetsuen, both BakaMochi and I hope to continue with permanent coverage of the series, but it is still not confirmed as this time. If confirmed, then you'll most likely see an update on the main page news sidebar/schedule.
Full-length images: 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 34, 36, Preview 01, Preview 02.
ED Sequence
ED: 「happy endings」 by 香菜花澤 (Kana Hanazawa)


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ZendCon 2010 – Tuesday Morning, 10am UnCon Session Summary.
Presented by Ed Finkler – @funkatron (funkatron.com)
Ed Finkler has been on Spaz since 2007. Spaz is an open source micro-blogging client. He joined the twitter dev mailing list, became a moderator, back in the days when Twitter had 6 employees. Initially, Spaz was writen in Real Basic. There ended up being a lot of issues with this language (such as theming, and inline linking).
Ed had a strong working knowledge of CSS & HTML really well (JavaScript, not so much). That lead him to Apollo (which later became adobe Air). There was a lot to learn about JavaScript such as ajax and event handling. So he rebuilt the app. There was some initial interest in the app, especially since it was one of only two desktop apps for twitter. He ended up winning some contests with Spaz, such as a computer and a chair. Plublicity was welcome and abundant in the early days.
From there, things got a bit more complicated. Soon, Ed started to take some flak for the name, as it was a bit offensive in the U.K. (spaz is a derogatory name for someone with cerebral palsy). Feature requests could be a bid downer as well. Big comparisons started to come up between his app and other twitter apps. People like shinny thing, it gets tem excited. Most end users don't care if something is open source or not. They care if it's free or not. When people work with developers, they tend to treat them as nameless, faceless entities, not real people. It's can be really hard not to get offended by the comments and feedback. People are unaware of your motivations, or they just don't care.
Eventually, twitter changed their authentication to OAuth, most the other free systems didn't change their systems. Spaz did and so the user base tripled over a couple of days.
Adding new features like image uploaders became hot spit. Comparisons and feature requests to match other apps started coming in fast and furious. Since this was open source, all development was happening in Ed's free time. It became impossible to keep up with the demands.
He was then approached by Palm to discuss using the twitter app on their platform. He agreed and signed an NDA. This became very difficult since sharing code is an intrinsic part of who he is. Even though he was told that he could open source the code, they still attempted to stop him the weekend before launch. They really just didn't get it (today, they have done a much better job of embracing open development on their platform).
After this experience, Ed had to redefine what his definition of success was. He ended writing a declaration of purpose to specifically define what the project was about and the goals it was meant to achieve But he really needed to help. Continued development couldn't be done by just him. Two platforms, building a community, and the decision not to charge for it where all major factors in the need to bring in more people. Ed wasn't even testing on a device, emulators only. Getting a device really helped increase motivation. "Eating your own dog food on a consistent basis really helps motivate you". Using your own apps helps you focus on improvements.
Ed then spent most of 2010 cultivating a community. Originally, Spaz was hosted entirely on Google Code and Google Groups. It was then moved to GitHub which allowed for a better social environment. Go where the community goes. A lot of developers, especially JavaScript developers, where already on GitHub. This made things the project higher profile and easier to interact with. He also started to use TenderApp and Lighthouse for much better for issue tracking. It made things easier and simpler for people.
Road-maps and milestones also became important tools for the Spaz project. It really helped the community to see what was going on and focus them. Hack-a-thons also really helped bring people together, even when people weren't working on it. If you want people to work on your project, you need to give it to them in small, bit-size segments, that they can sink their teeth into. If you say "work on what-ever", people will quickly get overwhelmed and back off, and no one will help.
Take away:
- "Eating your own dog food on a consistent basis really helps motivate you"
- Cultivating a community – Go where the community goes. Make it easy for the community to contribute and buy in.
- Make good things in the right way.
- Keep it pure: do it because you love doing it.


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SEJournal Online is the digital news magazine of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Learn more about SEJournal Online, including submission, subscription and advertising information.
"Can we talk?" — The Society of Environmental Journalists has been trying to raise news media access issues with the Environmental Protection Agency for several years. But just getting a callback from EPA's press office, SEJ members complain, can be difficult.
Now SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel has asked EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to resume meetings to discuss how EPA deals with the news media. In a January 27, 2012, letter, Whetzel complained about EPA's unresponsiveness to "concerns our members have expressed about their ability to get the information they need to do their jobs."
Among SEJ members' biggest concerns have been the de facto policy requiring press office permission before a reporter can interview an agency scientist — and requiring a press office chaperone during the interview, either in person or on the phone. But it does not stop there. Complaints also include slow callbacks or none at all, a press office insistence on submittal of questions by email, and a growing effort to put agency officials remarks "on background."
SEJ leaders had been having ongoing phone meetings with EPA press office leaders over the past two years in hopes of resolving those issues, but those talks had broken down, Whetzel said in the letter. Whetzel recounted being unable to get EPA press spokespeople to return her calls in the weeks before a forum held October 3, 2011, in Washington, DC, on agency press policies.
Whetzel acknowledged that EPA had made some significant improvements in press access during the last several years — including timing press conferences to accommodate West Coast media, adding more phone lines for press teleconferences, and dramatic improvements in access to some data and documents.
But Whetzel added that the Obama administration's openness pledges — together with Jackson's own April 2009 "fishbowl memo" — had raised news media hopes to expect far more.
"We continue to hear on an almost daily basis from SEJ members in a variety of news outlets," Whetzel wrote, "that they get the run-around when trying to schedule interviews, gather basic information, or get answers to important questions for their stories. While it's clear to us that members of the major, national media organizations have quality access to you and to top EPA insiders, our members who are working for small newspapers and radio stations or toiling away as freelancers are hit with repeated hurdles when they try to do their jobs."
"The standard response from EPA these days to a reporter's request for information," the letter said, "is for EPA to ask 'what kind of story' the reporter is working on, then ask for all questions in writing, and then wait until just before deadline (or after) and send a couple of sentences in a state via e-mail that doesn't answer the question. Seldom do most reporters get questions answered, and even more seldom are they able to interview the EPA person they would find most helpful."
- Text of January 27, 2012, letter from SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson .
- Previous Stories: WatchDogs of September 21, 2011 and October 5, 2011.


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Taking the "work" out of the music workstation.
Roland's FA series completely reimagines the music workstation, streamlining it for effortless real-time power, ultra-fast workflow, and maximum versatility. Each model in the series features a massive sound collection, studio-quality effects, and expressive real-time controls, plus onboard sampling with zero load time for instant playback from 16 pads. An integrated sequencer offers simple operation and non-stop loop recording, and you can easily export tracks for further development with your DAW. Available models include the 61-note FA-06 and 76-note FA-07, which both feature velocity-sensitive keyboards with synth action, and the FA-08, which features an 88-note keyboard with weighted action.
No work, all play.
Music workstations play an important role for keyboardists in a wide range of creative activities. However, they can often be complicated and difficult to use to their full potential, bogging down the creative process. In developing the FA series, Roland has completely reimagined the music workstation to let your inspiration flow, allowing you to perform on stage and develop musical ideas with less effort than ever before.
Perform and record with a massive selection of Roland's very best sounds.
Packed with over 2000 tones inherited from the INTEGRA-7, Roland's flagship pro sound module, the FA series offers a huge palette of high-quality sounds for virtually any musical style. All of the INTEGRA-7's SuperNATURAL synth and XV-5080 PCM tones are on board, plus an essential collection of expressive SuperNATURAL acoustic tones that include pianos, organs, bass, strings, and many others. And with the newly added Tone Remain function, you can switch sounds seamlessly with no notes or effect tails being unnaturally cut off.
Expand your sound collection with free downloads from Roland's Axial sound library site.
The FA sound engine is fully compatible with the large, growing collection of INTEGRA-7 synth patches available as free downloads from Roland's Axial sound library site. It's even possible to expand the onboard sound set with free wave sound expansion collections, which you can also get at the Axial site.
Capture ideas and create songs without interruption.
The FA series' intuitive 16-track sequencer has been designed to let you capture your inspiration as it happens. In a flash, you can build a full arrangement with the instrument's huge array of sounds. And with continuous recording in loop mode, you're able to fill up all 16 tracks without ever stopping! In addition to real-time capture, step recording is also possible, and you have complete control to edit and mix your tracks as you go and save songs as stereo audio files to an SDHC card.
Enhance your sounds with a wide range of simultaneous effects.
The FA series provides numerous options for polishing your sounds and sequencer tracks to studio-level perfection. Independent MFX engines are available for all 16 parts of a studio set, and with the unique TFX (total effects), you can process the entire output with dramatic effects such as DJ FX Looper, Isolator, and others. All the effects can be tweaked with the Sound Modify knobs to add real-time expression to your performances and productions.
Fast workflow and intuitive real-time control.
You can feel the speed of this new breed of instrument the moment you hit the power switch—unlike many workstations that can take a minute or more to boot, the FA series is ready to play in seconds. The panel is logically organized into dedicated sections, and the large color LCD presents a gorgeous look with inviting hi-res graphics for selecting tones, working with the sequencer, and adjusting various settings. And it's a breeze to navigate through the large sound selection by category and assign your favorites for fast recall.
An instant-access performance sampler at your fingers.
The sampler in the FA series features fast, hands-on operation and sampling/playback via convenient SDHC cards. You can play audio samples directly from the 16 pads on the front panel, making it easy to expand your performances with loops, backing tracks, one-shots, vocal phrases, sound FX, and more. And thanks to SDHC flash memory, your samples load instantly, with no wait time at all.
Studio sets enhanced for master rig control.
In the FA series, a studio set stores 16 tones and the various parameters associated with them, including level, pan, effects, and more. Now, master control functionality has been added to studio sets, enabling you to use the FA as a master controller for a large studio or live rig. You can save MIDI messages like bank select, program change, volume, and many others. This info is sent out via MIDI when you select the studio set, letting you reconfigure the FA and multiple external devices with one command.
Seamless DAW integration.
In addition to its impressive standalone performance, the FA series easily transitions into any DAW environment. With a press of the DAW Control button, you can instantly set up the keyboard to communicate with your software via USB.* Dedicated control maps for popular DAWs provide quick setup for operating transport functions and other parameters in your software. In addition, you can use the FA as a USB audio interface to record a variety sources directly into your DAW and monitor them through the stereo output and headphones jack. A free license for Ableton Live Lite is now included with every FA keyboard, enabling you to pair up your instrument with a powerful DAW right away.
*USB communication requires installation of the FA-series USB driver on your computer.
If you need to command a complex keyboard setup with multiple splits or zones, the 76-note FA-07 and its semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive keyboard is a great option.


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Acid Rain Has Greater Impact on Coastal Ocean Waters
News story originally written on September 7, 2007
Acid rain is what happens when some types of air pollution is washed out of the sky by rain. Power plants, factories, farms, houses, and cars all put pollution into the atmosphere. Sometimes, this pollution mixes with water in the air to form acids; then when it rains or snows, the acid falls onto land or into water on the Earth.
Some scientists have learned that when acid rain falls into the oceans, it damages the coastal areas of the ocean more then the rest of the ocean.
When coastal areas become more acidic, marine animals such as sea urchins, corals, and certain types of planktons have a hard time creating exoskeletons (their hard outer shells). Because these animals are an important food source for other animals in the ocean, if they don't survive the food chain of the entire ocean ecosystem could be affected.